A new pest is born every 3,2 seconds
In the first half of 2017, there were an average of almost fifty virus attacks on each computer. 99 percent of the malware is still made for Windows, and a new copy is born every 3,2 seconds.
As the world’s first antivirus manufacturer, G DATA has been compiling statistics on pests for 30 years. The first 20 years of this period were relatively calm: between 1987 and 2007, the number of registered pests increased only slightly.
Then, in 2007, virus production exploded, and in a year, 133 new pests were born from almost nothing. If that sounds scary, it’s worth taking a deep breath: in the first half of 2017, nearly five million (4) new viruses have hit the Internet.
The annual number of pests registered 10 years ago was thus reached in four days this year. And if new Trojans, exploit kits and extortion viruses continue to emerge at this rate, 10 million new pests could be added to the list of known malicious codes this year.
This represents a 1,6-fold increase over the same half year last year. Today, a new computer malware is born every 3,2 seconds, and 27 in a single day. The most attacked platform is still Windows, with a rate of over 99 percent. The remaining 1 percent is shared by scripts, Java, Android, macros, and OS X.
One above all
According to statistics, today a computer receives an average of 47,4 attacks every six months. 78,2 percent of these are related to Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) and the rest are to real malware, mostly Trojans and adware.
Outstanding among these is Poweliks, which alone is responsible for a quarter of all virus attacks. It is a malware that does not create files on your hard disk, but stores its routines in the registry and is only active in memory. By default, your computer doesn’t destroy you, your job is to click on different banners to generate money for the pages that display your ads. However, you can also click on a banner that points to an infection, so you can even download additional malware to your computer.
They demand a ransom
According to G DATA statistics, the proportion of infamous extortion viruses is not even 0,1 percent among other pests, so none of them managed to reach the top 75 list. Nevertheless, malware that encrypts files and demands ransoms has caused billions of dollars in damage worldwide in recent years and has also been featured in the press. The reason for this attention is that while most pests are optimized for quiet, background operation by their creators, extortion viruses are designed for aggressive behavior.
They settle unsolicited
PUPs are usually installed on your computer unsolicited, along with some other application, and do not cause any direct damage. They typically monitor web browsing, display unsolicited advertisements, or divert users to specific websites.
Therefore, it has been debated several times why antivirus software prevents the installation of programs that include the PUP component but provide real functionality, such as torrent clients or CD burning software. The reason for this is extremely simple: anti-virus software protects not only the computer but also the users, so any program that collects and then transmits their personal information to unknown servers is considered malicious. At the same time, security companies are encouraging Internet users to use utilities that do not include PUP modules.
